An opportunity missed you have to feel, but it's hard to say that Schalke didn't deserve their point. Hopefully a lesson learned!

Typical! I write up a MOTM topic and check the forums to make sure no one else has several times. When I submit, I look and someone else submits one. 

 

Felipe, MOTM for me.

Edited September 17, 201411 yr by AlexTommo

Thought Luis had a good game tonight.

Hazard was lively in the first half but struggled to impose himself in the second.

If it was based on first half performance alone Hazard would walk it, he was utterly phenomenal. Unfortunately our attack dropped off quite dramatically in the second half; over the course of the entire game I think Felipe Luis was our best player.

Alextommo for his man of the match thread , much better than plokoons...

;)

Hazard just ahead of Ivanovic for me.

 

Frustrating as we didn't seem to have that edge last night and looked like we played within ourselves and didn't get near top gear. Complacence? Jose has to take a large part of the blame for starting Drogba and keeping him on the pitch as long as he did. It was painful to watch and I honestly think if Remy had started, we would have won the game.

Hazard just ahead of Ivanovic for me.

 

Frustrating as we didn't seem to have that edge last night and looked like we played within ourselves and didn't get near top gear. Complacence? Jose has to take a large part of the blame for starting Drogba and keeping him on the pitch as long as he did. It was painful to watch and I honestly think if Remy had started, we would have won the game.

 

Ivanovic? Not having a go here, but could you explain to me what he did well? I thought it was his worst performance of the season by quite a margin.

Was it only me or most of our team looked disinterested in playing this game? Apart from Hazard, Luis etc. Even the goal we have scored was of a foul.

And our first team bar Drogba was good enough to thrash that lowly Schalke which got thrashed a game before. I think they were just focused on all City game..

Ivanovic? Not having a go here, but could you explain to me what he did well? I thought it was his worst performance of the season by quite a margin.

 

May be defensively you are right, but I don't think any of the defence or Matic had a good game. But going forward I though Ivan did really well and was a constant threat and did more than Willian.

 

And even though I thought Hazard was our best player, he was frustrating with his decision making and final ball. At times though it was as though he looked up, saw Drogba was the only option and decided against it.

Willian and Hazard were good.

Have we stopped doing polls for the MOTM threads?

May be defensively you are right, but I don't think any of the defence or Matic had a good game. But going forward I though Ivan did really well and was a constant threat and did more than Willian.

 

And even though I thought Hazard was our best player, he was frustrating with his decision making and final ball. At times though it was as though he looked up, saw Drogba was the only option and decided against it.

 

Yeah I sort of agree with that. I just think when you are a defender, your primary objective should be to at least provide a decent defensive performance. Thought Luis had a very good game defensively though. Agreed on Matic, not his greatest game.

Yeah I sort of agree with that. I just think when you are a defender, your primary objective should be to at least provide a decent defensive performance. Thought Luis had a very good game defensively though. Agreed on Matic, not his greatest game.

 

Agreed. Not sure what it is this season but at the moment our defence looks rather fragile every time a team has a go at us. Coundn't believe the amount of space the Schalke players were finding and to be honest that has happened in all the games we have played this season. I'm not really moaning as I'm one who would rather see us win 4-3 than 1-0 and all the time we are outscoring our opponents it doesn't matter but you do worry about what some sides will do against our defence and if our attack has an off-day like yesterday.

 

We need Matic to be back to his best for the City game (obviously the whole team as well) but I single out Matic as he has been off form so far this season after setting such high standards last season. Sounds like Toure went missing a bit for City last night and is coming in for a fair bit of criticism so lets hope he doesn't improve for Sunday!

Agreed. Not sure what it is this season but at the moment our defence looks rather fragile every time a team has a go at us. Coundn't believe the amount of space the Schalke players were finding and to be honest that has happened in all the games we have played this season. I'm not really moaning as I'm one who would rather see us win 4-3 than 1-0 and all the time we are outscoring our opponents it doesn't matter but you do worry about what some sides will do against our defence and if our attack has an off-day like yesterday.

 

We need Matic to be back to his best for the City game (obviously the whole team as well) but I single out Matic as he has been off form so far this season after setting such high standards last season. Sounds like Toure went missing a bit for City last night and is coming in for a fair bit of criticism so lets hope he doesn't improve for Sunday!

 

To my, admittedly, amateur scouting eye it seems Matic has been given more attacking freedom this year. Last year he would sit back, deliver the pass and then stay back. This year hes a lot more aggressive, trying to make an early interception and generally goes forward a lot more. Instead of playing the short incisive pass to one of our offensive playmakers he tries to carry it out himself and take it into the oppositions third. While he is creating more chances offensively, he also leaves a lot of room behind when he either loses the ball or gambles on an interception but misses the mark. Will be interesting to see him play against City to see whether or not he plays more like the anchor he was last season or if he continues to move forward. 

Have we stopped doing polls for the MOTM threads?

 

Not at all, in fact for this game we had two!

 

 

Alextommo for his man of the match thread , much better than plokoons...

;)

 

Ha, just wait until I bust out the spreadsheet!

Edited September 18, 201411 yr by PloKoon13

Not at all, in fact for this game we had two!

Ha, just wait until I bust out the spreadsheet!

My bad. Im using tapatalk so thats probably why I cant see them!

My bad. Im using tapatalk so thats probably why I cant see them!

 

Not your fault mate, polls not showing up has been a problem in the past. If you post who you would have voted for I'll add it to the tally when I update the spreadsheet.

Nice one mate. I'd of give it to Hazard

Not at all, in fact for this game we had two!

Ha, just wait until I bust out the spreadsheet!

Noooooooo, not the spreadsheets........

Luis